The mixed 49er was a sailing event on the Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics program in Qingdao International Sailing Centre. Sixteen races (last one a medal race) were scheduled. Only thirteen races were completed including the medal race due to lack of wind. 38 sailors, on 19 boats, from 19 nations competed. Ten boats qualified for the medal race.

Race schedule Sources:  ● Practice race  ● Race on Yellow  ● Race on Red  ● Medal race on Yellow Date August 7Thu8Fri9Sat10Sun11Mon12Tue13Wed14Thu15Fri16Sat17Sun18Mon19Tue20Wed21Thu22Fri23Sat24Sun Mixed 49er ● 3 3 Spareday 3 Nowind Nowind 3 ●

Course areas and course configurations Source: For the 49er course areas A (Yellow) and E (Red) were used. The location (36°1'26"’N, 120°26'52"E) points to the center of the 0.6nm radius Yellow course area and the location (36°2'21"N, 120°25'32"E) points to the center of the 0.6nm radius Red course area. The target time for the course was about 30 minutes for all races. The race management could choose from several lengths of the course configuration.

Windward-Leeward courses W2: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – FINISH W3: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – FINISH W4: START – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – 4s/4p – 1 – FINISH

Weather conditions In the lead up to the Olympics many questioned the choice of Qingdao as a venue with very little predicted wind. During the races the wind was pretty light and quite unpredictable. Due to lack of wind (< 1.6 knots) one racing day had to be cancelled and the medal race needed to be postponed to the next day.

Final results Sources:

Daily standings

Notes The Danish team of Jonas Warrer and Martin Kirketerp Ibsen, who won the gold medal, almost failed to make it to the start of the Medal race, when their mast split shortly before the start. The Croatian team—who had not made the final race—donated their boat to the Danish team to use in the final, and the Danes subsequently went on to win Gold. The Spanish team filed a protest against the win due to the boat change, but the protest was dismissed and the race results stand. The protest was promoted to the International Olympic Committee but was again dismissed. A third protest was promoted by Italy and Spain to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which was also dismissed.

Pavle Kostov, Petar Cupać and their coach Ivan Bulaja were awarded the International Fair Play Committee's Pierre de Coubertin World Trophy for lending their boat.

References The 2008 Olympic scoring system was used.

For the medal race the top ten boats qualified. Each position scored double points. All medal races were sailed on course area Yellow in front of the Qingdao International Sailing Centre.

Further reading